Overview

Will the ecological crises of our time be resolved using the same form of thought that has brought them about? Are technological prowess and political power the proper tools to address them? Is there not a deeper connection between our ecological crises and our human, social, political, economic, and ethical crises? This book argues that the popular approaches to ecological, bioethical, and other human crises are not working because they fail to examine the problem in its full depth. This depth escapes us because we have abandoned true metaphysical reflection on the whole and substituted it unknowingly for a series of inadequate alternatives. Both the technocratic paradigm that views all of nature mechanistically and its antagonists--the eco-philosophies that argue for the realities of intrinsic value, relationality, and beauty--carry partial truths but are insufficient. This book presents a more radical alternative, rooted in the classical tradition yet fresh and vibrant. The metaphysics of gift, based in the giftedness of existence shared by all, offers a deeper and more satisfying vision of all things that can transform our relationship with nature and touches every aspect of human life: social, political, economic, technical, and ethical.

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9781725264977

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Reviews

"""Taylor has performed three services in one in this work. First he offers us a comprehensive exposition of the best that trinitarian metaphysics has offered in the past century, secondly he has done this with a great deal of literary panache, and thirdly he has shown how a metaphysics of gift is required to underpin bioethical practices which will actually foster freedom and respect human dignity. This work belongs to a new generation of bioethics that goes beyond and beneath the tired old protocols that acknowledge nothing higher than technology."" --Tracey Rowland, St. John Paul II Chair of Theology, University of Notre Dame, Australia; 2020 Ratzinger Prize Laureate ""Taylor's use of 'integral ecology' reasserts the fact that 'nature' comprehends the entire created universe and, for this reason, includes both human bioethics and ecological ethics in the same worldview that gazes upon the manifold gift of existence. . . . The book's clarity and precision make it an invaluable contribution to the future of ethical debate, especially regarding the environment, technology, and medicine."" --Pablo Martinez de Anguita, Professor of Forestry and Rural Development, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid ""Dr. Michael Taylor's work offers a profound Christian vision of the real. He seeks honestly to gaze on the whole in all of its depth through the aid of figures such as Ferdinand Ulrich, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Pope Benedict XVI among others. At the interface of metaphysics and trinitarian theology, this book ranges from the mystical into the ecological and back again."" --Aaron Riches, author of Ecce Homo: On the Divine Unity of Christ ""Taylor's book takes a matter that concerns all of us at some level, namely, the meaning of nature, and opens it up to depths far beyond the limits modern ecology often sets for itself. It not only lets a new light into the field, but it does so in a way that allows us to avoid all the usual tired reductions. Those seeking orientation in this field will benefit greatly from his wise insights."" --D. C. Schindler, Professor of Metaphysics and Anthropology, Pontifical John Paul II Institute at The Catholic University of America"

Taylor has performed three services in one in this work. First he offers us a comprehensive exposition of the best that trinitarian metaphysics has offered in the past century, secondly he has done this with a great deal of literary panache, and thirdly he has shown how a metaphysics of gift is required to underpin bioethical practices which will actually foster freedom and respect human dignity. This work belongs to a new generation of bioethics that goes beyond and beneath the tired old protocols that acknowledge nothing higher than technology. --Tracey Rowland, St. John Paul II Chair of Theology, University of Notre Dame, Australia; 2020 Ratzinger Prize Laureate Taylor's use of 'integral ecology' reasserts the fact that 'nature' comprehends the entire created universe and, for this reason, includes both human bioethics and ecological ethics in the same worldview that gazes upon the manifold gift of existence. . . . The book's clarity and precision make it an invaluable contribution to the future of ethical debate, especially regarding the environment, technology, and medicine. --Pablo Martinez de Anguita, Professor of Forestry and Rural Development, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid Dr. Michael Taylor's work offers a profound Christian vision of the real. He seeks honestly to gaze on the whole in all of its depth through the aid of figures such as Ferdinand Ulrich, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Pope Benedict XVI among others. At the interface of metaphysics and trinitarian theology, this book ranges from the mystical into the ecological and back again. --Aaron Riches, author of Ecce Homo: On the Divine Unity of Christ Taylor's book takes a matter that concerns all of us at some level, namely, the meaning of nature, and opens it up to depths far beyond the limits modern ecology often sets for itself. It not only lets a new light into the field, but it does so in a way that allows us to avoid all the usual tired reductions. Those seeking orientation in this field will benefit greatly from his wise insights. --D. C. Schindler, Professor of Metaphysics and Anthropology, Pontifical John Paul II Institute at The Catholic University of America

Author Information

Michael Dominic Taylor lives in Granada, Spain, with his wife, Cassandra, where he works as the Executive Secretary of the International Laudato Si' Institute and teaches Metaphysics for the Edith Stein Philosophy Institute. He holds degrees in biology and environmental studies, bioethics, and philosophy. He earned his doctorate in philosophy in 2019.

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